parrot games
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Parrots, particularly African greys, need a great deal of stimulation. That means people who keep companion parrots have to be prepared to spend quite a bit of time and energy playing with them. You cannot just buy them some toys, then leave them in their cages all day. Parrots are very sensitive creatures that require love and interaction with their human companions. They are also creatures of the flock and feel uncomfortable when forced to spend too much time alone. In fact, leaving a parrot in its cage all of the time over an extended period of time is abusive and can lead to serious emotional and mental problems for the bird. In the wild, they spend much of their time searching for food. But when kept as pets, all that intelligence needs something else to focus on, to keep it occupied and healthy. With our parrots, Nikki in particular, we have invented a whole series of silly games that they love to play with us. Like a four-year-old human child (which is about the same intelligence level as an African grey), they never tire of them. They will remind you from time to time when they want to play. I should point out that for playful parrots, "time-to-time" actually translates into "all the time"! Most of these games do not involve expensive toys - just a desire to spend time with your bird(s), a fairly large lack of inhibition and willingness to be silly, and a great deal of energy. Like a child, they will have plenty of energy long after you run out! The following is a list with descriptions of some of the games we play with our parrots.
After I get Nikki and Coco up in the morning, the next piece of business involves making the morning coffee. The first thing I do is run water in the sink to rinse out yesterday's grounds and leftover java. This is Nikki's cue to start "helping" me grind. Sometimes he waits until I actually pour the beans in the grinder, and start whistling a little tune I call "What a Silly Bird;" it's actually the same tune for the old tune, "What a Silly Song" but it fits. Often he will start "helping" as soon as the water starts running. He sits on his perch, whistles one note then starts making a grinding sound like the coffee grinder. He really gets into it, bobbing his head up and down and dancing on his perch while we both "grind" together. Then while the coffee is brewing, I go to remove the food and water dishes from his perch to give him breakfast, and Nikki will bring his foot up to his beak as if drinking from a cup and make a slurping sound like we do when we actually drink coffee. Coco is still learning to make sounds and does not always participate. Sometimes he does, though, and makes cute little squeaking noises to accompany Nikki's grinding, much like our air guitar concerts (see below.) This little routine takes place every morning, almost without fail.
At the end of my work day, usually between 5 and 6 p.m., I come down from my home office and crank up some tunes. The birdies love music and as it begins, I park myself by Nikki's perch, play my air guitar and sing along with the CD. Nikki climbs down off his perch to the edge of the baffle and bops along, "singing" with me. He really likes the Eagles, the Traveling Wilburys and the Tractors.
As I head into the kitchen to start preparing supper, Coco joins in as I sing/whistle. Nikki whistles and bops, Coco joins in by squeaking his little head off. Between my whistling/singing, Nikki's whistling and Coco's squeaking, it's quite a cacophony of sounds!
When Nikki first came into our lives, he already knew how to make a really loud POP!, like the kind you make by slapping your flat palm sharply against your open mouth. I started popping back at him, but of course, unlike Nikki, I had to slap my hand against my mouth to imitate him (and they say parrots are great imitators!) It didn't take that silly parrot long to incorporate that into HIS popping. Now, before Nikki pops, the foot always comes up to the beak. In fact, he tries to bring it up to get me to pop first. He even sometimes tries a double pump-fake (he must have been an NBA player in a past life!) to trick me. The only way I can "win" this game is with a "simul-pop", that is, if I time it so we both pop at exactly the same time. If Nikki fakes me out or if he pops before me, he wins.
This is one of the first games we ever played together. Nikki turns his head first one way, then the other, sometimes making moves that threaten to give me a neck spasm if I try to follow too closely.
This game involves me "stalking" Nikki, while he's on his perch-baffle. I put my hands in the air like one of those old 1950s monster movies. I say, "I'm gonna get that tail!" in my best menacing monster voice. Nikki fluffs up and meows in his most woefully wailing kitty voice then raps his beak on the baffle. I rap, then he raps ... I rap, then he raps. Sometimes we slip in a quick round or two of the head game. Then I make this "ooooohhh!" sound and Nikki "ooooohh!s" right back. I start drumming my fingers on his baffle and he either starts bopping along the edge or starts to climb back up on his perch. That's my signal to try to tag his tail - and if I'm not quick enough, sometimes he'll nail me! (Just playing, of course, but it can sometimes hurt!) Then he climbs down and we do it all over again.
Both Nikki and Coco get in on this one. I burn out much quicker than they do! Nikki has a stuffed squeaky crocodile while Coco has a soft, plush multi-colored squeaky ball. I squeeze the croc to make it squeak then toss it onto the baffle on Nikki's perch and he ATTACKS it! He wrestles with it, then eventually throws it off the edge onto the floor. This is our cue to clap our hands and shout, "Yay, Nikki Bird! You vanquished that evil crocodile! Yay!" While Nikki is wrestling with the croc, I squeak Coco's ball and toss it on top of his cage. He scurries over to attack it and eventually throws it off. I try to time it so one is in the wrestling phase while I retrieve the other's toy, but it doesn't always work. They both LOVE this game.
This all started like most parrot games - just an innocent, ordinary everyday act. I went into the downstairs bathroom to use the facility. Nikki decided to climb down from Ann's arm to the floor and strutted over to the bathroom door. Just for something to do, I slid a towel underneath the door - and the tug of war was on! I could not see what was going on, but Ann was killing herself laughing, watching Nikki attack this towel. Then I stopped and peeked under the door crack - and there was a silly birdy looking under the door, peeking back at me from the other side. Of course, I started to laugh, and so did Nikki. We play another version of this game, when I put him to bed at night.
Superman has Lex Luthor, Spiderman has J. Jonah Jameson, Robin Hood has the Sheriff of Nottingham, Sherlock Holmes has Professor Moriarty ... and Coco Puff the parrot has Grey Guy. One of Coco's earliest games - and still one of his favorites - is his never-ending battle with a little plastic toy seal we call "Grey Guy." Show him Grey Guy and sweet little Coco becomes the Parrot Hulk! He grabs his seal-nemesis angrily, growling fiercely before he tosses him across the room, often hitting me with the flying toy. If he is still in scurrying distance, Coco launches another attack on the insidiously evil Grey Guy. Sometimes Coco will stop to chew on him for a while, before dropping him when his attention is (easily) diverted by other foes, like a stray feather or a piece of cardboard. But show him Grey Guy and his parrot rage wells up in him once again and before long, a seal is flying across the room!
At about the age of 2-1/2, Coco decided it’s fun to scamper along the top of the couch-back while we're trying to watch TV. He will often try to sit on either end and chew the corners of the couch. Of course, this is undesirable, so we cover the corners with old towels he can chew until his heart's content. Defeated in his purpose, he will then try to reach around the other side of a divider we've set up to keep from getting at my bookcase - but it's merely a momentary barricade for him as he still attacks things sitting on the bookcase or anything else in the vicinity that he can reach from his couch-corner perch. This "attack" consists of chewing everything and/or dumping everything on the floor. Sometimes he even crawls around onto the bookcase where he causes even more havoc. This, too, is undesirable, so we discourage it - by distracting him. What you have to do to distract him is toss toys along the top of the couch-back. Partially-finished rolls of toilet paper, a squeaky ball or stuffed birdy-buddy, some of his “foot” toys or even pieces of paper, straws or cardboard are useful in this endeavour. (Watch you fingers, though!) Obviously, it’s not conducive to watching TV or reading on the couch, but it is important he gets some playtime like this, to burn off his energy.
This is always a favorite time for the birdies ... at least until the lights actually go out. It combines a couple of types of games, and is different for the two birds. These games and routines are very important, kind of like bedtime stories for the birdies, and I repeat them religiously each and every night. Nikki likes to play rough, so we always play a combined version of "get- that- tail" and "towel monster." I put him in his cage door, but he climbs back up to the top of the cage, while I try to get his tail (and he tries to nail my fingers!) Then he climbs (or sometimes "attack-leaps") back onto my towel-wrapped hand, I put him back in his cage door and it starts all over again. This goes on for three or four trips up the cage before I finally put him in his cage for good, closing the door. This prompts him to attack the towel, and we then segue into a version of the towel-monster game, where Nikki "fights" with a corner of the towel I poke through the bars. We then play tug of war with his food dishes, as he tries to nip me while I'm unscrewing the clamps. We then "wrestle" with "Birdy-Buddy," a stuffed toy bird attached to his cage. Then we wrestle/play tug of war with a rope chew toy that's wrapped around a ring attached to the bars of the cage. Nikki sometimes climbs on top of it, balancing on both feet while hanging onto a cage bar with his beak - "surfing" the toy while I jiggle it back and forth. Of course, while this is going on, I'm singing "Everybody is surfing ... surfing Nikki-bird!" and shouting "Cowabunga, birdie-dude! Tube city for Birdies!" I also sing the Sesame Street "Manommana" song and "Oh my, what a silly bird" (to the tune of "What a silly song") before turning out the lights and saying good night. Coco doesn't play much at night; he likes to watch Nikki and me, but still hasn't figured this play-fighting out. I put him in his cage, give him a few scratches and sing a few songs to him:
Followed by:
(This second song may be familiar to anyone who watched the Hercules cartoons produced by Trans-Lux in the early 1960's; it uses the tune of the song Newton the Centaur always sang) After the songs, I give him one last scratch or two, then cover his cage with a blanket for the night.
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This page last updated September 16, 2009 |
